Questions from someone new to collecting

[Goose04]

Hi, I've recently started collecting Soviet medals and orders, and I find myself with lots of questions and few sources to find information from. I was wondering if anyone knows any good sites (other than this one, of course) on which I can find information in the following areas -

1) Information pertaining to price ranges for items. The rarity key on this site is very informative, but it does little to distinguish the difference in value between an R2 Order of Lenin and an R2 medal for the Capture of Vienna.

2) Any information pertaining to documents that come with medals and orders. After reading some of the posts on this forum about fakes I searched through my documents and found that I also had a fake, so I was wondering if there would be any sources of information I could use to keep this from happening on a more valuable item down the road.

3) Sites which sell or auction off Soviet military orders and medals for reasonable prices.


Any help in these areas would be greatly appreciated. Thanks ahead of time!

[Art]

Goose,

Check out the links section of this website. Many of the moderators here are also dealers and I have a link for each moderator to their respective website. You can find all types of pricing on the moderators websites.

Here is a link to the links

http://www.soviet-awards.com/links.htm

We have an extensive section here dedicated to the paper that is commonly associated with these awards. I know Alexei ( Nota Bene here on the forum ) has contributed significantly to the discussion of the various methods employed to falsify these documents. Try using the search feature here and you might find what you are looking for.

regarding other sources of information, I really haven't seen any that come close to the amount of information this forum has. The Russian "Mondvor" site is very good, but no good for information unless you understand Russian. You can check it out anyways, it has some great pictures.

http://www.mondvor.narod.ru


Art

[Nota Bene]

Goose,

Welcome to the Forum!

I don't think you can find any single source of information about prices. It's a good idea to search the Internet for dealer's pages and compare their prices just to get an idea, or ask fellow Forum members.

As for the fakes, they are the biggest problem in the Soviet collecting today. I don't want to sound too negative, but basically anything worth more than $5 is getting faked nowadays. Before you decide on your next purchase post a scan in the fakes section, and we'll be happy to discuss it.

Alexei

[Esteban_cool]

A good idea (and the one who gives the better results) is the one that I am doing, since I´m also a beginner, and its results have been very useful and positive for me. The hint has three simple words, and the best place to execute it is in this forum: ASK, ASK, and ASK.
As I told u before, it´s easy, funny and very good, but takes a lot of time to become an "otlichnik"!

Greetings,
Esteban

[Taz]

Welcome Goose,

I think you have already found the best source of information you need and not just as a beginer. As Estaban said Ask, Ask, Ask.
These Guys realy know there stuff!
And the "Bible" for Soviet Collectors, The Comprehensive Guide from Paul Mc Daniel, if you haven,t got it already should not be missing in your reference Library.
Good Hunting!

Eddie.

[otlichnik]

What Alexei (Nota Bene) said is sadly true. A new collector these days has to assume that everything is fake (or fantasy, that is something never really issued) until proven good. When I began collecting the reverse was true. You did not worry about fakes until you got to stuff worth mabe $100 or more.

Heres a few hints from my view.

1) Read everything of interest on this forum. Try the search feature too.

2) Collect price lists. Download or bookmark them.

3) Ask. That is what this forum is here for.

4) In these days of the internet (unlike when I began collecting) finding stuff is no big problem - at least not until your collection becomes quite advanced and you are looking for rare stuff. Instead, the challenge is to figure out first what you want to collect.

5) Devise some sort of scheme for your collection - are you a "one of each medals" type, or concentrate on a few awards but go for all variations, or interest in one branch or service (tanks, naval, air force, etc.), or just anything you like the look of.

Lastly,

You are right that rarity and value to not relate. Value of something is also related to raw materials - the Order of Lenin is actually quite common but the price will never fall too much as its gold and platinum content make it worth more as "scrap" than perhaps rarity - and interest in it. Lets face it, many badges are quite rare but far more people want a more common Order of Lenin for their collection than a rarer 500,000 km aeroflot flying badge.

Shawn